Here is a link to the article 1/7/26 Works in Progress Magazine by @scientificdiscovery.dev: The Golden Age of Vaccine Development worksinprogress.co/issue/the-go...

Read it here!

The gap between vaccination sentiment and what's possible with vaccine technology is incredibly sad. We are living through a golden age of vaccine development. By turning away from investing in them, we risk losing out on many breakthroughs around the corner.

NEW article by me! We can now visualize pathogens down to atoms; design vaccines in weeks; manufacture them in microbial factories; engineer them more precise than ever before. We're living through a golden age of vaccine development, but only if we continue to invest in them.

More vaccines, less antigens: As scientists have moved to subunit vaccines, the number of antigens in childhood vaccines has fallen sharply. Children receive more vaccines today, but fewer and more targeted antigens than they did back in 1900 – when only the smallpox vaccine was widely available.

The resolution of microscopes has increased over 10,000 fold over the last 200 years. It's allowed scientists to examine not only cells, but bacteria, then viruses, their protein structure, and, eventually, the individual atoms that comprise them.

NEW article by me! We can now visualize pathogens down to atoms; design vaccines in weeks; manufacture them in microbial factories; engineer them more precise than ever before. We're living through a golden age of vaccine development, but only if we continue to invest in them.

Good thread. I'd add that you need to know (or assume) what the true effect size is, to make a claim about who's biased. There's an implicit assumption that the average effect, or the one found by moderates, is accurate, but that might not be the case.

The report accompanying the new vaccine schedule repeatedly refers to the vaccine schedule as mandated, and coercive. That's patently false, it is a set of recommendations. The authors may be trying to get at school entrance requirements, but those are state policies, not federal.

I don't think it's true (or helpful) to say that Denmark recommends fewer vaccines because their healthcare system can treat the diseases better. The trend is for countries to move to universal recommendations over time. Some countries do it much earlier than others.

Here it is compared across countries instead, with rotavirus as an example: Denmark is one of very few western countries that doesn't recommend rotavirus vaccines universally (yet?)

Please share - @pewresearch.org wants to hire a data archivist who will be an advocate for data users, helping to ensure that our datasets are easy to discover and reuse by researchers, journalists, and the public. pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/CenterExtern...

Here it is compared across countries instead, with rotavirus as an example: Denmark is one of very few western countries that doesn't recommend rotavirus vaccines universally (yet?)

Denmark's vaccinations vs the United States's: Most of their vaccines eventually became universal recommendations, though much more slowly than in the US.

With today's announcement by HHS proposing changes to the US childhood vaccine schedules, it's more important than ever to be pushing states and pediatricians to commit to following data-driven vaccine schedules like the ones from @ameracadpeds.bsky.social downloads.aap.org/AAP/PDF/AAP-...

I can’t fully articulate the way my stomach dropped when I saw this headline. Please know the evidence has not changed. The people in charge have changed, and they did not consult any relevant experts or the public. “This new policy has not been vetted with pediatricians, the public, or the ACIP”

gift link. this will be challenged in court

Hey cardiovascular people! What are the best sources you'd recommend on understanding cholesterol metabolism, or the history of research on it? (academic books, slides, etc.) More detailed = better, but starting with the basics. Thanks!

Hey cardiovascular people! What are the best sources you'd recommend on understanding cholesterol metabolism, or the history of research on it? (academic books, slides, etc.) More detailed = better, but starting with the basics. Thanks!

How likely is ‘likely’? Does ‘likely’ have a higher probability than ‘probable’? I put together a quick quiz so you can see how you interpret probability phrases, then see how you compare with others: probability.kucharski.io

Most confusing genre these days - viral blogposts critical of AI which are themselves clearly written by AI.

>1 year into learning German, I'm still translating people's surnames in my head when I read them. Look out, especially those of you with amusing/nominative deterministic surnames.

The IHME just revised their 2023 estimates for mortality in sub-Saharan Africa upward by 87% for ages 5-14, and 60%+ higher for women 15-29, after replacing their old model life table with data from demographic surveys... 😳

The chickenpox vaccine provides wide societal benefit by preventing not just chickenpox but also shingles!

Broke - arranging your books by colour Woke - arranging your books by height

Random curiosity, but I wonder if there are biological reasons that kids are more often picky eaters. Do they produce less salivary enzymes? Or have a stronger gag reflex? etc. Because I used to be pretty picky, but now I'm very easily satisfied and like a lot of foods that used to make me gag.

This online, PhD-level course in the economics of innovation is a huge opportunity. Taught by some of the world's top scholars on this: @heidiwilliams.bsky.social, Chad Jones, Azoulay, van Reenen, many others! Co-sponsor @ifp.bsky.social If you're admitted, it's free. Applications due January 9th!

Thinking about how, roughly 5 years ago when I'd started my PhD, my dad said to me “You know, you don't sound like a scientist - I can actually understand what you're saying.”

In 1998, Americans expected more to have changed by 2025 than has actually changed. We often overestimate how quickly the world changes. From the latest issue of The Update, where I also cover ten other stories (next post). theupdatebrief.substack.com/p/why-is-cri...

The Dutch Health Council advised against default chickenpox vaccination in 2020. Meanwhile 95% of children in NL get infected by age 6 and ~250 are hospitalised per year. You could cut that number by 99%, prevent all young deaths, protect older people, AND save money! Just mind-boggling

This is excellent news. Paid for it for the youngest - and it was some of the best money I’ve ever spent. The eldest two acquired their immunity the old fashioned way.

This is great news (great stuff in the thread as to why, too):

Woohoo! Chickenpox vaccines are on the menu in the UK - finally!! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This blogpost, by my friend Sam on his trip to Taiwan, is so interesting about many little tidbits of Taiwanese culture. Highly recommended for all Wikipedia rabbit hole diggers. open.substack.com/pub/thefitzw...

There are actually many more things you can point to as examples of recent scientific breakthroughs www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/medical-br... than 'curing Alzheimer's in mice', which people have been claiming to have done for decades and has a tenuous connection to what happens in humans.

You can also use the map in the story to look up vaccination rates in your local schools! This was a HUGE data lift: we reviewed and mapped tens of thousands of individual schools’ data, assembling the most comprehensive public database. And we published this data here: github.com/washingtonpo...

A superb summary of why our investment in fundamental science fuels stunning advances in medical treatments 🧪

Found a solution to the masquerade mask/glasses problem 🤣

You have less than a day to read this before it expires! 💨

Got a gym session in there before the New Year's Resolution crowd of people 😌

Well, I've become a mother.

In addition to my 10% Pledge, I just sent in an end of year donation for some errors in my writing (totaling £85). They included a few errors I caught and fixed, a 'major' coding error in a chart (bsky.app/profile/scie...), and some minor ones that others spotted but didn't want to be paid for.

What a time to be alive! "22 women became the first to receive mitochondrial donation to replace the mitochondrial DNA in their eggs, and have had 8 live births so far. They carried mutations that could have otherwise caused potentially fatal inherited metabolic diseases in their children"

Really encouraging to read. Highly recommended if you need a mood booster before the new year.

having spent a while watching this I would say that it was at its absolute funniest on the seventh, maybe eighth replay

The more I hear about my friends' young kids, the less surprised I am that kids catch so many infections. Sadly it is a bit gross as well. What do you mean your kid is eating soil and drinking bathwater?

New post! There was a lot of innovation in medicine and biomedical research this year, and I've tried to summarize the biggest ones in this blogpost. Medical breakthroughs in 2025. Plus a serious note at the end. www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/medical-br...

Really encouraging to see siRNA therapies enter the mainstream. A sobering reminder of how long this stuff takes to get to the clinic, though - here's me writing about their promise (and what you'd need to deliver them) in 2005 softmachines.org?p=143

This is great. Amazing positive developments in 2025. Nightingale's law: "if you aren't interested in pharmaceutical innovation, at some point in your life you will be"

New post! There was a lot of innovation in medicine and biomedical research this year, and I've tried to summarize the biggest ones in this blogpost. Medical breakthroughs in 2025. Plus a serious note at the end. www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/medical-br...